IN a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.

Directed by Phil Joanou (“State of Grace”), with special effects by the Stan Winston Studio (“Jurassic Park”), the commercial is entertaining. But it also has a message, spelled out at the end: “Evolve. Use a condom every time.”

“We have to change the perception that carrying a condom for women or men is a sign they’re on the prowl and just want to have sex,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the New York advertising agency that created the “Evolve” campaign. “It’s a sign of somebody being prepared — if the opportunity arises — to think about their own health and the health and safety of their partner.”

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

These are all good advice for all drivers but I am wondering about a major church body getting involved in driving policy.

Edit: Perhaps I should have included the rest of the article, which prefaced the 10 Commandments.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Tuesday issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.

An unusual document from the Vatican's office for migrants and itinerant people also warned that cars can be "an occasion of sin" — particularly when they are used for dangerous passing or for prostitution.

It warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out "primitive" behavior in motorists, including "impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code."

It urged motorists to obey traffic regulations, drive with a moral sense, and to pray when behind the wheel.

Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the office, told a news conference that the Vatican felt it necessary to address the pastoral needs of motorists because driving had become such a big part of contemporary life.

He noted that the Bible was full of people on the move, including Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus — and that his office is tasked with dealing with all "itinerant" people — including refugees, prostitutes, truck drivers and the homeless.

"We know that as a consequence of transgressions and negligence, 1.2 million people die each year on the roads," Martino said. "That's a sad reality, and at the same time, a great challenge for society and the church."

The document, "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road," extols the benefits of driving — family outings, getting the sick to the hospital, allowing people to see other cultures.

But it laments a host of ills associated with automobiles: drivers use their cars to show off; driving "provides an easy opportunity to dominate others" by speeding; drivers can kill themselves and others if they don't get their cars regular tuneups, if they drink, use drugs or fall asleep at the wheel.

It also pointed the finger at traffic problems particular to Rome: "Danger also derives from city cars, which are driven by youngsters and adults who do not have (full) driving licenses, and the reckless use of motorbikes and motorcycles."

It called for drivers to obey speed limits and to exercise a host of Christian virtues: charity to fellow drivers, prudence on the roads, hope of arriving safely and justice in the event of crashes.

And it suggested prayer might come in handy — making the sign of the cross before starting off and saying the rosary along the way. The rosary was particularly well suited to recitation by all in the car since its "rhythm and gentle repetition does not distract the driver's attention."

The document is intended for bishops conferences around the world, and as such offered recommendations for their pastoral workers, including setting up chapels along motorways and having "periodic celebration of liturgies" at major road hubs, truck stops and restaurants.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) A pharmacy would be required to fill prescriptions for any drug it stocks such as birth-control pills regardless of a pharmacist's moral beliefs under a bill that cleared the Legislature on Monday.The bill, approved 56-18 by the Assembly, establishes a pharmacy's duty to fill lawful prescriptions without undue delay and without consideration for a pharmacist's moral, philosophical or religious beliefs.If a pharmacy doesn't have a prescription in stock, the pharmacy would have to either obtain it under expedited ordering or find a nearby pharmacy to fill the prescription.The bill was approved by the Senate in June 2006 and goes to Gov. Jon S. Corzine for his signature.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Oddly enough when I search google for this, I find only five or six articles all posted to anti-choice websites. Funny that.

This issue is mostly effecting female reproductive choice. Since the people behind it hate women and hate the idea of them being free to do with their own bodies as they see fit. They'd rather see you all barefoot, naked and in the kitchen. Now, I'm not female, but the very idea that a pharmacist can deny someone prescribed drugs is a threat to everyone's liberty, not just women. It is especially absurd in that the drugs in question are being touted by the religious right as 'abortion drugs' when they do nothing of the sort. They use the same tactics of lies, distortions, hominem attacks, straw men and other fallacies that they do in every other aspect of any issue they find themselves forcing on people. This issue potentially effects me just as much as anyone and it effects all of you.

Personally, I can't believe this is even an issue that needs to be put into a law. Am I to be lectured before I purchase a Whopper at BK now too? Should we allow Muslim pharmacists to deny diabetics insulin made from pig pancreas? Should we allow a Hindu to allow someone with blood clots to die because he refuses to give them heparin, which is made from unclean cow liver/lungs? Should a Scientologist pharmacist be allowed to ignore someone's prescribed anti-psychotics because that religion believes modern psychology and psychiatry to be non-science?

The answer to all these is no, even from the right winger's perspective. So why the hell should Christian pharmacists be given a special right to do this? As far as I'm concerned the rights of these pharmacists do not outweigh the rights of the customers. Their rights to preach about their religion end when it begins to interfere with my rights. That's the bottom line. I go into a pharmacy because I need or want a particular drug. I am not going into a pharmacy to have some asshole tell to me about how I'm an evil person. This is no different than the rabid evangelicals chaplains in the military who demand that they be allowed to proselytize to everyone yet deny anyone else has a right to practice their own religion.

If you can't do the job, whatever your reason, then quit. It's one thing to expect your job to be reasonably accommodating when it comes to your religious beliefs. It is quite another to use your workplace as a pulpit to try to belittle the choices of others.

Edit: Bill number is A992Text of the Bill here from NJ state assembly site

Edit: Apparently it's the shortest bill ever

Be It Enactedby the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 27 of P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-66) is amended to read as follows:

27. a. A pharmacist shall conduct a drug utilization review before each new medication is dispensed or delivered to a patient.

b. A pharmacist shall conduct a prospective drug utilization review in accordance with the provisions of this section before refilling a prescription or medication order to the extent he deems appropriate in his professional judgment.

c. A pharmacist shall exercise independent professional judgment as to whether or not to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order. In determining to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order, the decision of the pharmacist shall not be arbitrary but shall be based on professional experience, knowledge or available reference materials. A pharmacist shall not refuse to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order solely on the grounds that to dispense or refill the prescription or medication order would contravene the pharmacist's philosophical, moral or religious beliefs.

A year ago, he was a Pentecostal Christian minister at Camp Anaconda, the largest U.S. support base in Iraq. He sent home reports on the number of "decisions" -- soldiers committing their lives to Christ -- that he inspired in the base's Freedom Chapel.

...

Larsen's private crisis of faith might have remained just that, but for one other fateful choice. He decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots.

On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year's end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record.

"On July 29th, 1994, Paul Hill boldly defended 31 babies from unspeakable violence by killing a paid assassin and his bodyguard. He was arrested, given a sham trial, and executed as a martyr. On the 13th anniversary of Paul Hill’s act of love and mercy, memorial events will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to honor him as God’s man and our hero."

This man killed and maimed innocent people in cold blood. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life (my stance should be obvious to those who know me, but that's not relevant here) there is no way you can possibly condone the actions of a convicted murderer.

This is a public celebration of domestic terrorism. As a concerned American citizen, I demand that the US Government enforce the provisions of the PATRIOT Act that make the support of terrorism a prosecutable offensive.

Yours, Michael Varian Daly

United States Attorney Steve Biskupic is the chief federal law enforcement officer within the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Office of the United States AttorneyEastern District of Wisconsin517 E Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 530Milwaukee, WI 53202-4580

I have found a [name of publication] ad on a very inappropriate web page, in close proximity to such subjects as Incest, Family Sex, F***ing children, Child Molesting, Child Pornography, and other disturbing topics. I am sure that as a responsible and well respected company, you know nothing about this, as many advertisers on LiveJournal.com do not.

I have taken a screen shot of this disgusting page with your ad on it and will be glad to email it to you if someone will contact me with an email address to which to send it.

There are hundreds of these pages in the LiveJournal community with ads by many unsuspecting companies such as yours. Many of these sites have been reported to LiveJournal, but they choose to allow this content despite a negative reaction to it.

LiveJournal recently launched a campaign, in response to our requests, to suspend many of these inappropriate sites. Unfortunately, they have since changed their minds and have brought many of these sites back online.

I'm afraid that the only way to ensure the safety of your company's reputation is to remove all ad support from LiveJournal. Google Adsense and Google Adwords are the main providers of advertising for LiveJournal. I urge you to contact your advertising departments/managers and have your ads pulled from all of LiveJournal.com.

I can also provide information on how to conduct a search of "objectionable" sites that may contain your ad. I would be happy to work with you in obtaining any information that you need.

I trust that you do not support this and will withdraw your support from LiveJournal.com in order to maintain the reputation you have earned.

Multiple-award-winning SF author Robert Charles Wilson, whose novella "Julian: A Christmas Story" is a current finalist for both the Hugo Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Award, told SCI FI Wire that the story takes place in an oil-depleted and depopulated future America in which the Union has 60 states.

"Julian Comstock is the nephew of the reigning president, who fears Julian might become a competitor; Adam Hazzard is Julian's 'leasing class' friend and the narrator of the story," Wilson said in an interview. "A conscription drive for the War in Labrador takes aim at Julian, and Adam has to make some stark decisions about whether to defend his friend or remain loyal to his hometown of Williams Ford."

The narrator, Adam, is an aspiring author but very much a product of his rural environment, Wilson said. "[He's from] a small town run by an elite Eastern family and controlled by the Church of the Dominion," he said. "Julian, on the other hand, was raised in Manhattan, a cultural Mecca even in an age of oil depletion and coal technology, and he introduces Adam to new—and deeply troubling—concepts such as evolution and the history of space travel."

The most unusual thing about the story is the voice in which it's written, Wilson said. "Adam's voice, which is really the old American voice, [is] humble but unbowed, instinctively ironic, gullible and skeptical at the same time," he said.

In order to adopt a perspective of 150 or so years in the future, Wilson immersed himself in American literature and history from the latter part of the 19th century, he said. "What I was asking myself was: How much and how profoundly does a culture change over the course of a century and a half?" Wilson said. "And how can I write that degree of change into a depleted, radically unraveled world like Julian's?"

The character Adam represents the side of Wilson that wants to trust people and take them at their word—and that runs the risk of getting gulled from time to time, Wilson said. "Julian Comstock, by contrast, is my inner atheist: skeptical, perhaps, to the point of condescension, but aware of the intricate complexity of nature and evolution," he said.

The story grew out of Wilson's desire to write about the prospect of climate change and resource depletion, along with the potential dominance of a political-religious hierarchy in a post-collapse America, he said. "[Also,] my own discovery of 19th-century American children's literature and such now-forgotten authors as William Taylor Adams," he said. "There is also, of course, the real-life story of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to overturn Constantine's conversion of the empire to Christianity. [The story] loosely follows the historical precedent."

"Julian: A Christmas Story" is available now from PS Publishing as a stand-alone volume, but Wilson is currently working on expanding the story into a novel, he said. —John Joseph Adams